MILWAUKEE — It’s the roar that made Milwaukee famousthe distinctive throaty rumble of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. But that much-loved racket could be rumbling away if the company cannot bring down its labor costs.
Harley-Davidson warned employees in April that it will move its Wisconsin manufacturing operations elsewhere if it can’t cut millions of dollars at the factories that build the bikes known as “Milwaukee Iron.”
“When you think of Milwaukee, you think of beer, brats and Harley-Davidson,” said Steve Daily, a researcher at the Milwaukee County Historical Society.
But that’s been changing. For example, the corporate parent of beer giant Miller moved its U.S. headquarters to Chicago in 2008 after joining its domestic operations with Molson Coors Brewing. Then there was Schlitz, which billed itself as “the beer that made Milwaukee famous” until financial and labor problems forced it to sell out to a Detroit company in the 1980s.
That leaves Harley-Davidson as the city’s lone signature brand. It’s also a magnet for tourists. The Associated Press
